on Life After Death: Part I
Something that has been consuming my thoughts lately, or has at least become a kind of prominent backdrop to all of them, is the Resurrection of Christ. I mean the actual historical fact of His return from the dead. Maybe it's because I wrote to you about cremation last week. In any case, here is the first part of a two-part column on the event that changed the world.
There are two things the happen in my mind and heart when I give myself to thinking about the Resurrection. The first is about how frightening it must have been for the disciples. Downright terrifying I would imagine, which would explain why He is always saying, "Do not be afraid," as He reveals Himself to them. The other has more to do with the response of the disciples. Whereas before His death they were cowardly and prone to backsliding, after Christ's death they are emboldened to preach the Gospel to all the nations. Why? What happened that turned them from fearful to faithful? He was raised from the dead. That's what happened.
It's one of the things that makes it possible for me to trust so deeply in the authenticity of the Church's claim that Christ is indeed raised from the dead. The same men who hid from Christ's crucifixion are the same men who then, just days later, were preaching His name in the temple area, even to earth's ends. Applying even the simplest reason to this fact, it would be impossible to deduce that they had all decided to fabricate a story about His Resurrection, which would only have ensured that they would meet the very fate they had just fled. And yet, they do go fearlessly into the world saying, "This Jesus, whom you crucified, is Lord!"
Saint John Chrysostom, the Bishop of Constantinople born in the year 347, wrote about this character transformation of the disciples himself. It was for him too a confirmation of the trustworthiness of the Church and its claim. He writes:
How then account for the fact that these men, who in Christ's lifetime did not stand up to the attacks by the Jews, set forth to do battle with the whole world once Christ was dead, if, as [some] claim, Christ did not rise and speak to them and rouse their courage? Do you think it plausible that they said to themselves, "What is this? He could not save Himself, but He will protect us?" Or, "He did not help Himself when He was alive, but now that He is dead He will extend a helping hand to us?" Or, "In His lifetime He brought no nation under His banner, but simply by uttering His name we will win over the whole world?" Would it not have been entirely irrational for the disciples even to think such thoughts, much less to act on them? It is evident, then, that if they had not seen Him risen, and had proof of His power, they would not have risked so much.
It is evident? Wow. Bold statement. Does the Bishop really mean that we can be certain that Jesus is raised from the dead? Yes. He's saying that we can perceive something of Christ's Resurrection in the lives of men and women who are changed from cowardly to captivating, from loathsome to loving - and more specifically, in the lives of those who move from fearful to faithful.